Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor
Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor is a demo reel, recorded in 1970 by the group who would later become known as The Residents. Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor is among the group's earliest known recordings, although, like the other tapes from the years prior to the release of the Santa Dog EP in 1972, it is not acknowledged by the band as being part of their official discography. History Like The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger before it, the actual title of the reel popularly referred to as Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor (if it ever had an official title, or can be considered an "album" proper) is in question, but the tape features a track of the same title, with a reprise towards the end of its second half, and with Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor has been referred to occasionally by The Cryptic Corporation as being one of "four albums" recorded by the group prior to becoming The Residents. The tape features contributions from Roland Sheehan on guitar and organ. Sheehan spontaneously co-wrote the song "Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor" with the group after looking out a window and seeing a truck filled with rusty coathangers. The Rusty Coathangers ''tape also features abortive early examples of the group performing "Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones (here crossed with "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", both previously heard on ''The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger demo tape), as well as traditional music ("Bringing In The Sheaves"), early tape collage experiments with recorded chatter and samples from the musical Bye Bye Birdie, and "Bo Diddley", another notable but obscure early original song by the group. Contents , circa 1970]]As the Rusty Coathangers ''tape has supposedly only been released in an incomplete form and mostly consists of loose, improvisational jams and studio banter, there is no definitive track listing. However, known songs featured on the tape include (among others): *Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor *Bringing In The Sheaves (traditional) *Satisfaction (Jagger/Richards) / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (traditional) *Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor (Reprise) *Bo Diddley Availability For decades the existence of ''The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger and Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor were known to fans solely through a mention in Matt Groening's 1979 article "The True Story of The Residents", as well as occasional references in mid-to-late 1970s promotional materials distributed by Ralph Records. The existence of these reels was confirmed in the late 2000s, when a number of short snippets of tracks from both tapes were released by an anonymous fan. Both reels later became available in a more complete format as part of a limited series of bootleg CD-Rs, though it has been rumored that what has been circulated as Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor does not include the complete contents of the original reel. It is said that these reels were stolen from the band's archives by a former associate and later made available for profit, and as with their other early demo recordings, The Residents and The Cryptic Corporation do not approve of their availability. Unlike the other three known demo tapes from this period (The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger, ''The Warner Bros. Album'' and ''Baby Sex''), none of the tracks from Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor have been released on any later compilations of the group's early material. In 2016, an excerpt of the title track was heard in the documentary Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents, but other than this short snippet, the Rusty Coathangers reel has only been heard in an extremely low-fidelity and apparently incomplete format. See also * The Delta Nudes * The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger * The Warner Bros. Album * ERA B474 * The Delta Nudes' Greatest Hiss External links and references * "Before the Beginning" on RZWeb Category:The Delta Nudes Category:Demo tapes Category:Unreleased